‘Die Hard’ takes overseas, while ‘Haven’ is a hit at home

3D toon 'Planet Earth' scored $21 mil in four days

It was more of a presidential weekend overseas than at home for Fox’s “A Good Day to Die Hard,” while Stateside auds showed lots of love for Relativity Media’s Nicholas Sparks romance-thriller “Safe Haven.”

The Bruce Willis actioner, which kick-started its Stateside run on Valentine’s Day, collected a franchise-best $61.5 million overseas tally Friday-Sunday, but it underperformed with $37.5 million in five days Stateside. However, a solid $80 million-plus overseas cume in two weeks pushed the $92 million-budgeted film past six figures globally already.

“Safe Haven,” which topped Thursday grosses with an $8.8 million debut, gained support from couples all weekend long, grossing an estimated $34 million in five days.

Pre-weekend tracking put “Safe Haven” in the $20 million range at best; “Die Hard,” which did best in Imax with seven of the pic’s top 10 locations, failed to match its more aggressive $45 million-plus projections.

Even though it was the lowest-grossing Presidents Day weekend in four years, at around $165 million, the four-day frame was hardly disastrous, thanks in part to stellar holdovers, namely Universal’s “Identity Thief” and Summit’s “Warm Bodies.”

“Identity Thief” fell to No. 2 in its soph sesh, with $23.7 million in three days, dropping just 32%. “Warm Bodies” also drew a significant date-night crowd, earning $8.8 million Friday-Sunday, down just 22% in its third frame.

“Identity Thief” has run away with $75.2 million and counting; “Warm Bodies” crossed $50 million domestically.

The Weinstein Co.’s 3D toon “Escape From Planet Earth,” which cost $40 million, scored a hearty $21 million in four days, benefiting from an underserved family market of late. The toon held remarkably well on Presidents Day, down an estimated 7% from the previous day.

Also, TWC’s awards contender “Silver Linings Playbook” crossed $100 million domestic this weekend and should continue to play well through the Oscars ceremony.

“It’s been such a terrific run for this movie, with plenty of gas left in the tank,” said TWC distribution topper Erik Lomis.

“When we decided to go with an R rating, we didn’t anticipate there to be a slew of R-rated films,” said Fox distribution prexy Chris Aronson. “I do think there were unexpected challenges, but we should have good playability with a B+ CinemaScore.”

Still, Fox dated “Die Hard” as a Valentine’s Day counterprogrammer based on how well the previous installments played with women. Like the past pics, “A Good Day to Die Hard” saw similar balanced results, earning 45% of its opening from women.

Internationally, the film performed best in the U.K., where it grossed an estimated $7.6 million, followed by Japan and Russia, with north of $6.7 million each.

“Die Hard” marks the third recent R-rated film starring an aging action star to struggle at the box office, after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “The Last Stand” and Sylvester Stallone’s “Bullet to the Head.” Those two films lacked the support of a franchise, however.

Alcon Entertainment’s hopes of kickstarting its own franchise with “Beautiful Creatures” are almost certainly dashed. The supernatural-themed film, which cost $40 million-$50 million (not including P&A costs), is based on a young-adult novel series from authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Teen girls, along with couples and some over-25 auds, rated “Safe Haven” more favorably compared with previous Sparks adaptations.

In turn, the $28 million-budgeted “Safe Haven” grossed nearly the same in its first five days as 2010’s “Dear John,” though that pic bowed the weekend before Valentine’s Day. “Dear John” cumed $80 million domestically.

Mixed love for Classics

Sony Pictures Classics’ aggressive expansion of Oscar-nominated “Amour” resulted in a so-so estimated $918,411 four-day take. The film broadened to 306 locations, up from 125, for a per-screen average of $3,001. Stateside cume is $4 million, with more than $17 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, Sony Classics bowed Chile’s foreign-lingo Oscar nominee “No” at four U.S. engagements to a solid $23,686 per-screen average. SPC launched 2010’s “A Prophet” the weekend before the Oscars that year (although at nine locations), scoring a similar average. That pic cumed $2.1 million domestically.